April Fool's Cupcake

So, I've not baked anything in a week but in the spirit of April Fool's Day and the cleverness of Martha Stewart (who I'm sure didn't really come up with this) here is a cute cupcake idea.



It's jelly beans for the kernels, starburst for the butter, and black and white sugar for the salt and pepper effect.

Mascarpone Cupcakes with Strawberry Glaze

I discovered these cupcakes last summer while watching Everyday Italian. I never got around to making them again to share on here so now that it is officially springtime it was perfect timing for strawberry cupcakes.

Even though my kitchen table was still covered with 150 or so wedding cake cookies I made enough room to bake them Easter morning for lunch at my grandmothers. As it turns out my grandmother made a strawberry shortcake and there was also a strawberry truffle, so everyone got their share of strawberry desserts today. Since the glaze is really runny I waited til right before to ice them. I'm sure this could be fixed by adding more sugar or less strawberries. My cousins, Jessica, Hunter, and Madison, were great help at icing them(it must be the baking genes).

But to the recipe- it's really simple. The only complicated part is actually finding Mascarpone cheese. It's similar to cream cheese though, so I've used cream cheese before too and they turned out just as good. The cupcake is really fluffy and light. Then the strawberry glaze just turns it into springtime in cupcake form. It just may be my favorite cupcake.

Mascarpone Cupcakes with Strawberry Glaze

8 ounces mascarpone cheese (about 1 cup), softened

2 egg whites

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 box white cake mix

1 cup water

1/3 cup frozen strawberries, thawed and drained

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the muffin tins with paper liners.
In a large bowl combine the mascarpone cheese, egg whites and vegetable oil. Using a hand mixer, beat the ingredients until combined and creamy. Add the cake mix and water and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Fill the muffin cups to just below the rim and bake until puffed and golden, about 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool slightly in the tin then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack.
Meanwhile, puree the strawberries in a blender or small food processor. Place the powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Pour in the strawberry puree and whisk until smooth. Top the cooled cupcakes with the strawberry glaze. Let the cupcakes sit for a few minutes for the glaze to firm up, then serve.

Bridal Shower Petit Fours

Raspberry Linzer Cookies

3/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup good raspberry preserves
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter and sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough 1/4-inch thick and cut 2 3/4-inch rounds with a plain or fluted cutter. With 1/2 of the rounds, cut a hole from the middle of each round with a heart or spade shaped cutter. Place all the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet and chill for 15 minutes.

Bake the cookies for 15-20 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature. Spread raspberry preserves on the flat side of each solid cookie. Dust the top of the cut-out cookies with confectioners' sugar and press the flat sides together, with the raspberry preserves in the middle and the confectioners' sugar on the top.

Beatty's Chocolate Cake

I got this recipe from one of Ina Garten's books but she got it from an old milkman's wife or something like that. I've been using it for all my cake recipes lately so it was time to share. It combines two wonderful things: chocolate and coffee.

I'm making it again to take to a lunch at work tomorrow. I'm using her chocolate frosting recipe as well. Hopefully I will get a slice, those teacher assistants are crazy about cake.

Beatty's Chocolate Cake
Butter, for greasing the pans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
Chocolate Buttercream, recipe follows

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.
Chocolate Frosting: 6 ounces good semisweet chocolate (recommended: Callebaut) 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 extra-large egg yolk, at room temperature 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder

Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners' sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. Dissolve the coffee powder in 2 teaspoons of the hottest tap water. On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don't whip! Spread immediately on the cooled cake.

Course 1 final cake

Here is my cake from my last course 1 cake class. I think a few teachers at school have discovered that I'm rethinking my career plans.

Class 2 Cake

Here is my cake for class 2 of course 1:

After class 1 I was so excited about making it but waited til the night before to bake the cake since I didn't want it to dry out. I'm really impressed by the even strips that came in my kit. You wrap them around your pans and then magically your cake comes out flat. When it came to icing the cake, I used the cake icer tip. So much easier than putting a blob of icing in the center of the cake and going from there. I used all the tips my instructor told me about icing the cake and running the spatula under hot water makes such a difference. I'm such a perfectionist that finally I had to tell myself to put the spatula down. My instructor said my icing was really smooth and I lived out my dream of having the best iced cake in class.

I only had time to finish the pink part in class and then did the rest when I got home. I was so excited about finishing it that I forgot my ROY G. BIV order. The next day I took it to my grandparents and my mom to share. I had used raspberry jam for the filling and it turned out really nice.

Next week we can make cupcakes, a round cake, or mini cakes to do our "clown cake". When I was telling my grandparents this my grandfather laughed because they once took me to Hardee's when I was little and I screamed and cried because a clown was there. The clown cake is kinda scary. I'm going to be less excited to show it off.